Hammersmith pulled the trousers on and tucked in his shirt. “Thank you,” he said. “Did you grow up on an estate, then?”
“I did,” Day said. “But it was not all one might wish.”
“That seems to be the way of all childhood.”
“Perhaps. Are you quite all right? I could hear you coughing from my room.”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“Well, at least you’ve caught up to your sleep,” Day said.
“Strange,” Hammersmith said. “I don’t usually sleep much at all.”
“And I usually sleep more than I did. It’s this place, I think.”
“How is your little bird?”
“Mr Rose was kind enough to provide warm milk and bread. The bird’s asleep now.”
“Let’s hope Rose didn’t drug its milk. He seems to. .” Hammersmith paused and turned his back to Day while he let out another long shuddering series of wet coughs. When he had caught his breath, he gave Day a sheepish smile. “My apologies.”
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Just the wet air in those woods, I imagine,” Hammersmith said. “We should get moving.”
“I don’t suppose you’ve got another shirt you could wear? That one’s beyond repair.”
“I forgot to pack a change of clothing,” Hammersmith said.
“Forgot? How could you. .? Never mind. At least wash your face. We do represent London for these people.”
“But I did wash my face. Does it look bad?”
“You’re straight out of a penny dreadful.”
“Well, there’s little I can do about it.”
“You mystify me, Mr Hammersmith,” Day said.
“Blackhampton mystifies me.”
“Yes, that too.”
“There are too many agendas at play here.”
“It does seem that way,” Day said. “But Dr Kingsley will arrive sometime today and he’s not keen on wasting time. We’ve got the dress you found last night and the eyeball that the little girl found.”
“Hopefully the doctor can tell us something more about one or the other.”
“Or both, preferably. Meanwhile, I don’t feel as though we’ve made much headway in those woods.”
“I really don’t see how we can unless we’ve got a hundred men, marching abreast.”
“Neither do I. But I’m curious about the man I saw last night. What’s his role in all this? The hideous wound across your face reminds me of him.”
Hammersmith touched his cheek again and winced.
Day chuckled. “We must try to determine who that is out there,” he said. “That’s my suspect at the moment, though I’m not completely certain a crime’s been committed.”
“I think the innkeeper knows something,” Hammersmith said. “Why else would he try to drug us?”
“I think Calvin Campbell knows something, too. He locked us in our rooms last night.”
Hammersmith raised an eyebrow. “He did what?”
“He locked us both in our rooms. I let myself out and followed him.”
“You let yourself out?”
“Yes. I brought my keys. The special keys.”
“Did he see you?”
“No. I imagine he thought we were both sound asleep and would never know. He came back round and unlocked the doors just after dawn.”
“I certainly wouldn’t have known. Where did he go? When you followed him?”
“I’m afraid he disappeared.”
“He knew you were there.”
“I don’t think so. He tiptoed down the stairs, very quiet, very nervous. And he did come back and unlock our doors. Why do that if he knew I was already out?”
“Should we question him directly?”
“I think we’d better.”
“It seems I missed a great deal while I slept,” Hammersmith said. “You should have come and got me.”
“I tried, but you looked a bit rough.”
“We have a lot to do.”
“You snore, by the way.”
Hammersmith frowned, but said nothing.
Day chuckled. “To work, then. I’d like to find out which tunnels are no longer in use and see about putting together a crew of men to take a look down there.”
“Why haven’t they done that already?”
“I wondered that, too. In fact, they hardly seem to have looked for the missing family at all. Constable Grimes is the only man here who seems to care.”
“Apparently half the village is sick, after all.”
“True.”
“But we also have an innkeeper who drugged us, presumably to keep us from going into the woods. Is it possible he didn’t want the dress found?”
“Perhaps.”
“And we have the mysterious Mr Campbell, who locked us in our rooms for the night.”
“We have a lot of questions to ask.”
“A tour of the village would help, too.” Hammersmith grimaced. “There seems to be an endless number of places three people might hide. Or be hidden. The woods, still, of course. Then there are the tunnels, as you said, every house in this town, even the well.”
“The schoolhouse doesn’t seem to be in use.”
“Worth taking a look inside.”
“And I want to get a look inside that church. When I was out and about, I didn’t see a rectory here.”
“Ah, yes, the note from Mrs Brothwood. It’s the only clue we’ve got. And not much of one. We need more clues. We need to narrow down the field before we run out of time here. It’s hardly likely, but if we can solve this today, we may be able to get you back to your wife by tomorrow sometime.”
“I still fear she’ll have the baby before I can return.”
Hammersmith softly coughed. He wiped his mouth and tapped his head. “I have an idea.”
“Does it involve getting out of this stuffy room?”
“You read my mind.”
“After you, Mr Hammersmith.”
Hammersmith tugged his forelock and preceded Inspector Day to the staircase.
24
They could hear the distant chattering of voices as they came down the stairs, and when they reached the bottom step, the inn’s front door swung open and Freddy Higgins limped inside, followed closely by a cloud of swirling snowflakes. He turned and pushed the door shut against the wind. He seemed smaller and more pale than he had on the previous evening, but Day had never seen the boy off his carriage.
“There they are,” Freddy said. “You almost missed ’em. Train’ll be leaving soon and the weather’s comin’ on thicker. Better get ’em to the depot, quick as I can, gentlemen.”
“Missed who?” Day said. “What train?”
“The London to Manchester. You nearly slep’ through, you did.” Freddy turned his head and coughed into the crook of his elbow. Day gave Hammersmith an exasperated look and turned to the empty common room, as if
